1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to printing system, particularly to a printing system including a printer such as a stencil printer for carrying out stencil making and a finisher for receiving and holding printed sheets discharged from the printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
A stencil printer is an image forming apparatus that digitally processes an original image, perforates a stencil paper (stencil) with the image, winds the stencil on a printing drum, and forms an image identical to the original on paper by transferring ink from the interior of the printing drum to the paper through the perforated stencil. Printing of a desired number of sheets therefore requires a stencil making operation.
A finisher is an after-processing apparatus, generally referred to as a "sorter," that receives printed sheets discharged from an image forming apparatus, sorts them into sheet holding means (row of bins) inside the apparatus, and arranges (aligns) and/or a staples the shorted sheets. The finisher therefore incorporates an operation of receiving and storing printed sheets and operations for effecting prescribed processing, e.g., alignment, with respect to the stored printed sheets.
When the conventional printing system consisting of a stencil printer and a finisher is used to print multiple originals, sort the printed sheets by page and staple the sorted sheets, first a stencil making operation is conducted, then printing is started together with sorting of the printed sheets, whereafter the sorted sheets are aligned, and, upon completion of the alignment, stencil making is started with respect to the next original. After these operations have been repeated a number of times equal to the number of originals, stapling is carried out.
The time required to complete the whole job is therefore considerable because it is the sum of the time required for conducting stencil making for the total number of originals, the time required for printing and sorting, the time required for alignment, and the time required for the final stapling operation.
In the case of a sorter equipped with moving bins, moreover, an operation is required in addition to the alignment and stapling operations for temporarily returning the row of bins to a standby location after storing the sheets printed with one stencil and before storing the sheets printed with the next stencil.